theres definitely ways to do this with out signing a new contract man. well depends on what type of user you are too though. if you are not planning to jailbreak and use 3rd party apps, unlock etc. than your only way of swapping to an iphone is if you sign a new contract. However, there are plenty of sites out there that teach you how to jailbreak and activate with out ever dealing with a new contract. that said, this puts you in jeopardy of losing out on your warranty but i think thats a given now a days with all the unlocking and jailbreaking that goes on with iphones. if you do by a new iphone and want to go with the jailbreaking way, go to hackthatphone.com and it will teach you step by step how to do this.